Sunday, November 30, 2008

TV/Media Notes: Are you watching the Nationwide Series Banquet highlighs on ESPN2?

David Poole is reporting that Ray Evernham has completed his deal to purchase a local short track in North Carolina. That would be a strong indicator that Evernham will be out of GEM shortly and free to fill a broader role at ESPN.

With the recent talks about cutbacks in the TV staffing and facilities for next season, it will be interesting to see how it all shakes out. ESPN has two completely different TV packages. First, they cover the entire Nationwide Series from start to finish. Then, they cover the final 17 Sprint Cup Series events.

Should ESPN decide to downsize the Nationwide Series coverage significantly and bring in a different on-air TV crew to handle the 17 Cup races Evernham could wind-up playing a big role. We will keep you posted.

By the way, if you ever wondered why print reporters should not do TV/video work without a producer, click here for the answer.

This season ESPN used Evernham in the booth, in the studio, on NASCAR Now and everywhere else they could put him and he passed with flying colors.

One thing about Andy Petree is he sounds like he is from the South. ESPN is not big on that if you look across their stable of announcers.

Another issue is Brad Daugherty. While he played a nice cheerleader role, the "hole" in the line-up was not having a former crew chief in the Infield Studio who could talk off-the-cuff during rain delays and red flags about real NASCAR topics.

The Nationwide Series has become the stone around ESPN's neck. If they are looking to cut costs, it will happen there first.

With Evernham available, he might be just the right cost solution to handle the Nationwide Series up in the booth. It should be interesting to see how things sort-out.

JD, If ESPN is trying to save money then they wont have a seperate announce crew for the Nationwide Series. If they did this they would have to pay more people. The way they have it now actually saves money. I dont see Evernham playing a bigger role at ESPN. Like you said, they are trying ti CUT costs. Giving Evernham a bigger role would only be adding to cost.

I have just watched the Nationwide Banquet and it was typical of the way ESPN treat our sport. Cutting it down to one hour was an insult and the editing seemed very poor to me, it was obvious we missed chunks of relevant footage. Why did they even bother to show it - I'm sure the Cup Banquet will be just as bad if not worse. Unless you have ESPNC you won't be able to see it live and I see the repeat is down to 2 hours instead of 3 - no doubt it will an example of more bad editing.Nice to see Allen though!

I wish Ray lots of luck and would be happy if ESPN used him next season. He is a true professional and has lots of knowledge in all aspects of NASCAR.

And for those who have a problem with his personal life--get over it. What do you want? Do you want him to be homeless? Sent to the gallows? The chair? We have an ex-president that did much worse. He did not break any laws in the penal code. Let the guy make a living. Change the channel if he bothers you that much.

If Ray or Andy are put in the tech center, we'd never see them. So leave Tim Brewer where he is or go to animated explanations. I say dump Rusty, leave Brad b/c I just like him, put Punch in the studio with Ray and Brad, AB in the booth with AP and DJ. Problem solved, except no cutbacks.